


I couldn't love you, even if I tried

by AncientElemental



Category: Power Rangers Megaforce
Genre: Arab Character, Asexual Character, Coming Out, Correcting Problematic Behavior, Friendship, Gen, Islamophobia, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-07
Updated: 2019-07-07
Packaged: 2020-06-23 16:47:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,272
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19705426
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AncientElemental/pseuds/AncientElemental
Summary: “Well. That’s kinda the reason why I wanted to talk to you. ” Gia said. “You see, I think you’ve been confusing what we are to each other and I have been thinking about my own identity since the whole Armada invasion and even prior to this whole Ranger ordeal. The truth is I’m not interested in having a boyfriend. I couldn’t love you, even if I tried.”





	I couldn't love you, even if I tried

**Author's Note:**

> This relationship was just so .... irritating and so problematic. I don't think the writers understood the coding of an Arab character making these type of advances in this day and age. Also, I can't stand these types of relationships either. So, I needed to make a story to address this problem and storyline.
> 
> Also, I love invoking my asexual headcanons into my work. Gia is't the only one with other characters headcanoned to be ace or on the ace spectrum (gray-ace, demi, etc.)

Jake sat in his usual spot at Ernie’s Brain Freeze. His bag was thrown to the side on the floor and was stretching his head to look towards the door. He checked his phone. She said to meet me directly after school. It’s been nearly an hour. Where is she? He looked at the shake he ordered for her. He thought it would be a nice treat and a surprise. Ernie leaned over the counter.

“You going to have that?” he asked the young man, gesturing to the still full glasses.

“No. Not yet, Ernie. Just waiting for someone to arrive.” he sighed back, slumming himself over. He placed his arms on the table and seemed to slam his head down on top of them. “What was I thinking?” he whined into the table. “I can’t seem to do anything right enough for her.”

His pity party had failed him to recognize the distinct sounds of heels clapping against the floor, getting closer and closer.

“First of all, if you have that attitude, maybe it was my mistake to come and meet you here.” a commanding voice rang throughout the shop. Jake’s eyes widened against the table. Only one person has that distinct of a voice for him to recognize. He looked up with the same shocked expression to find a stern face staring into him. The one and only Gia Moran, his supposed girlfriend, who clearly didn’t act like it to him.

“Now, may I sit down? We have a lot to discuss.” she huffed.

“Sure. I got you a shake if you wanted. But clearly, you didn't think when you told me to come here directly after school that it applied to you. What was this? A trick or a toy to you?” he annoyingly questioned.

“Apologies,” she replied. “I was asked to tutor some kids for NHS after school. I only heard about it from my advisor in the last period. I should have texted to tell you.”

“OK,” he said, shaking his head in agreement.

She sat down, putting her bag next to her on the floor and grabbed her shake from Jake. “Cheers?” she asked him, holding up the shake.

He couldn’t help but smile. Being around Gia didn’t make him want to frown. It’s just that she could be so frustrating and unclear with how she felt about him. But, it seemed that this could be where they started to work out their problems.”Cheers!” he replied warmly. Their glasses clinked together and they took hold of their straws, slurping down the shakes.

“So, what do you want to talk to me about? First date and all.” Jake said after he sucked down almost half of his shake.

“Well. That’s kinda the reason why I wanted to talk to you. ” Gia said. “You see, I think you’ve been confusing what we are to each other and I have been thinking about my own identity since the whole Armada invasion and even prior to this whole Ranger ordeal. The truth is I’m not interested in having a boyfriend. I couldn’t love you, even if I tried.”

Jake stopped moving for a whole solid minute and just looked at Gia. All of a sudden he started to bitterly chuckle “Wait, are you serious? Wait. You’re kidding. There has to be some mistake.” The chuckling started to turn into angry laughter. The goodwill he just gained seemed to be replaced by a sense of bitterness he had never before thought about. “You led me on! All of this time! Don’t you get it? I have been trying to get you to notice and love me since before we met. Now, I have you and I’m going to lose you. You decided to kiss me on the cheek. Did that mean anything to you?” He shook his head as his brow furrowed and fists clenched. “I trusted you! I .. I .. I .. I!

Gia interrupted with almost the same amount of fury present in Jake. “Jake Iskander Holling! You listen to me right now. Before I even go forward on what I wanted to talk about, we have to address this now!” She took a deep breath and seemed to calm down.

“Jake, from the time I’ve met you to all of our time serving as rangers, I have noticed some very distressing and gross behavior from you. Get this in your head. I’m not your prize or reward to win. I will not be worn down into loving you, even if I could. I’m not stubborn and I was certainly not blind in your attempted advances. I’m not obliged to you just because you have a crush on me. The behavior you have decided to exhibited is manipulative and harassing.

You can be a great person, Jake. I have seen your protectiveness of Troy, your care and encouragement of Noah, your close support to Emma, and your open arms towards Orion. You can be outgoing and vibrating with positivity most of the time.

But, this behavior is creepy and off-putting to me. In all honesty, it makes me uncomfortable to be around you. I don’t know if I can continue being your friend or being around you if you keep up this honestly misogynistic determination.”

Gia finished and leaned back in her chair. Jake seemed to stare her for a minute and then looked into the distance. A minute of awkward silence passed between the two until Jake’s eyes widened and he stood up out of his chair. He grabbed his bag off the floor and started to walk out of Ernie’s as fast as soon as he could. But, the same commanding and cutting voice started again

“We are not finished here, Jake. You don’t get to run away from this” she sternly said while looking to his back.

He stopped short and started to turn his head back towards her, but he stopped before he got a chance to look at her face. He resumed his previous position and broke the silence. “Gia. Why do I deserve to even be around you? What have I done? I’ve treated you like an object!” he growled. “I failed myself, failed my family and what they have taught me, and most importantly failed you. With all of that, tell me one reason why I should even look at you.”

He seemed to fail to get the words to come out of his mouth before he said “All of my life, I have had to experience so much hatred from people because I told them my mother came from Egypt. I was proud of it and my heritage, despite the treatment that she was given there. Then, kids asked me if my father let my mother speak because she was a woman. They were 3rd graders when they asked this. People think we all disrespect women. They think that every man from the Middle East will grow up to rape and murder because of the lies that people and the media spread about us. I might not be Muslim, but I empathize with anyone is or perceived as one because of all of the crap that is accused of us. By doing this to you, how much better am I from the stereotypes that people have accused me and my family? The things that people believe are reasons why we shouldn’t be allowed in this country atop other prejudices? How many people have silently judged me and thought this behavior was due to my race or my culture?”

Jake was feeling like his whole body was on fire. Every part of him was shaking and tingling. Loud sniffles could be heard from him as he spoke. He scrunched up his eyes to hold back the tears that threatened to spill on his face. The sound of a chair was heard scraping across the floor of the shop. Those same clicks seemed to cross the floor and Jake felt a hand grab his shoulder and pull him around. There was Gia, with a softened face, who reached her arms out and wrapped them around Jake, pulling him into her.

“Jake” she softly said, as she embraced him. Her soft tone was jarring. It was unheard from her. “I never meant to make you feel uncomfortable about your race or your heritage. I just wanted to point out your inappropriate behavior towards me. That is on you, not your race. It’s your conscious decision for you to engage in them and I’m still mad at you that you did. But, don’t beat yourself up over that load of crap you just sprouted. Those people who believe all of that are jerks.”

Her steady, warm presence seemed to make it easier for him to calm down. The shaking seemed to calm down and he felt stronger. He leaned down to whisper in her ear. “I’m sorry for everything. Can you ever forgive me?” he pleaded. 

He felt her head tucked into his neck and seemed to move it up and down. She moved her body back to look him in the eyes. “I can’t forgive everything just yet. But, I can start to,” she answered.

“Can we go somewhere more private?” he asked, uncomfortably looking around.

She nodded. “Of course,” she said. “Ernie!” she yelled.

The man smiled and kindly replied “Yes.”

“Can you make two more shakes for us to go?” she asserted.

“Of course. Coming right up” he replied. He turned towards the kitchen to grab the ingredients needed, exiting the room.

Gia dragged Jake over to the table they were sitting at. She gestured to him to sit in his original seat, but she walked over with him to the cushioned booths. He stared at her for what seemed like a minute. “Slide over, idiot. I want to sit next to you.” she insisted. 

Jake, in shock, slid over to let Gia sit next to him. She then proceeded to lean on him. 

“Gia. What are you doing?” he frantically asked. 

“Being a supportive friend. Being in my presence and holding each other seemed to calm you down. I want you to feel calm, so leaning on you seems like a good way to do that. Don’t think I’m going to forget our friendship despite the hiccups.” she explained. 

Jake, calmed by that answer, brought his arms around Gia and pulled her closer to him. Unfortunately, the small, quiet moments were interrupted by Ernie’s announcement that their shakes were ready. Jake assisted Gia up before standing up himself, the two smiling at each other. They walked over to the counter to pay for their shakes, thanked Ernie and walked out of the mall. 

The two walked, smelling the salty air, as they headed to their destination. It was a bright sunny day with many mothers and children out and about. Eventually, the sight of the crystal blue Californian water soon was in sight of the pair. They walked towards a bench that overlooked the pier and sat down, slightly angled to face each other. 

“Alright. Now that we’re here and I got that out of my system, what is the reason that you wanted to talk to me today?” Jake calmly asked. 

Gia took a deep breath and started to speak, “As I said before, I have been thinking a lot about who I am. What I want to do in my life. What I want to study in college. Future life goals. But, assessing myself made me realize things that I hadn’t before. I realized that I have been denying who I am and who I love. Thus, Jake, I can’t love you, even if I tried because I’m not attracted to men. In fact, I’m not attracted to anyone. I’m asexual.”

An awkward silence filled the area around the two former rangers. While seeming calm on the outside, Gia’s stomach was jittery like hundreds of butterflies were fluttering out of her stomach, wanting to break out. She knew that even today, coming out was still scary. She hoped that Jake’s experiences with the other rangers would shape his reaction to hers, but even people part of the LGBT community didn’t believe that asexuality exists.

Jake looked confused “So, what does that mean, exactly?” he wondered

Gia slightly smiled, her lip upturning almost a centimeter “It means that I don’t have an attraction towards anyone. You have an attraction towards girls, which makes you heterosexual or straight. Troy has an attraction towards boys, which makes him gay. Emma has an attraction towards both boys and girls, which makes her bisexual. But, I have no attraction towards anyone, therefore I’m asexual.¨

Jake seemed to blink for almost a straight minute again. His hands moved from crossing his chest into sitting in his lap. He uncrossed his legs and sat up. He turned slightly towards Gia again. 

̈So, that's why I have been coming off as an ass to you for the last two years, correct?̈ Jake asked. 

“Yep. That would be the reason.” Gia said while smirking.

“Damn. I really must suck at picking up signals.” Jake said as he scratched the back of his neck, looking around in a downwards direction. 

“You kinda are to be perfectly honest.” Gia retorted. “At least from my perspective, you are.”

The two shared a few moments of silence before bursting into laughter. The joyous noise filled the air that brought both confusion and joy to the people passing by. But, the two didn’t care. After all this tension has been lifted off their shoulders, it felt like a relief to feel this good.


End file.
